Students design and build small catapults to launch candy pieces.
If you’re looking for a science experiment to try today, then try building a popsicle stick chain reaction! This is a way to stack popsicle sticks together, and when you let them go, they all pop up in the air one by one in a long explosion! (Not an actual explosion by the way, that’s
These popsicle stick bridge projects are a fun way to learn about STEM with kids of all ages using simple supplies like wooden popsicle sticks
You’re either a genius, or the biggest idiot here. – a colleague Can’t I be both? -me It’s the first year of Keystone testing here in Pennsylvania, and everyone is adjusting…
Welcome to the world of creativity and fun with the “Popsicle Stick Craft for Kids” book! This book is your perfect guide to exploring the world of crafts using snow picks, offering children the opportunity to express their creativity and develop their artistic skills in a fun and interactive way.In this book, you will find a variety of creative ideas that children can implement using snow picks. Whether you are a beginner or a professional in the world of crafts, in this book you will find projects suitable for all levels and ages.From building small buildings to making cute animals, from educational games to home decor, kids will enjoy creating diverse and fun projects with snow picks.With each project, children will discover moments of fun and creativity and learn new skills that help them think outside the box and stimulate their imagination.Let's dive together into the world of creativity and enjoy making crafts using snow sticks. Welcome to an unforgettable artistic adventure!
Catapults have been used as military weapons since ancient times to hurl stones and other projectiles at enemy fortresses. Today, however, catapults are more likely to be found launching candy across the office or ping pong balls in...
Build a craft stick launcher that shoots Q-tips. This fun STEM project is a blast for kids to build as they develop their engineering skills.
STEM challenge for kids – build a catapult out of popsicle sticks! Here’s a fun (and effective) catapult to build out of popsicle sticks, hot glue, and a few other basic household supplies. We’ve been having a blast with this little contraption! The catapult’s arm is attached to a segment of a straw that rotates […]
You’re either a genius, or the biggest idiot here. – a colleague Can’t I be both? -me It’s the first year of Keystone testing here in Pennsylvania, and everyone is adjusting…
Today me and my son had a fun activity of making numbers with popsicle sticks. This activity can also help children in learning the digital formation of numbers.
Finding ways to get kids engaged doesn't have to be hard! Try out this easy and fun STEM Popsicle sticks bridge building challenge.
Here’s a fun STEM challenge: Build working gears out of plastic caps, popsicle sticks, and a cardboard box! This project demonstrates mechanical concepts using materials you probably already have. Kids will be able to explore how gears mesh together to create motion. We started our project with a sturdy Amazon prime box, an assortment of […]
Building sentences with popsicle sticks is a fun, low-prep activity for speech therapy! You can have your students practice building tons of different sentences to practice their speech and language skills. This blog post shares a quick tutorial about using popsicle sticks to build sentences, so click through to read!
STEM challenge for kids – build a catapult out of popsicle sticks! Here’s a fun (and effective) catapult to build out of popsicle sticks, hot glue, and a few other basic household supplies. We’ve been having a blast with this little contraption! The catapult’s arm is attached to a segment of a straw that rotates […]
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Popsicle Stick Bridge: The popsicle stick bridge is a classic science demonstration and competition. Every year many students world-wide build bridges made soley from popsicle sticks and glue, to see which designs can hold the most weight.We built one, using maybe 140 sti…
Kids will LOVE these engineering challenges with craft sticks, cups, and wood cubes. Engaging, open-ended, and creative!
Here’s another fun thing to do with popsicle sticks – build them into stick bombs! Popsicle stick bombs are quick to make and fun to throw. The boys thought it was cool that they are kind of like ninja stars, and they loved how the sticks fly apart in all directions when they hit something. […]
Some innovative castle designs by my middle school students, Samuel E. Shull Middle School, Perth Amboy NJ 2017 After watching the video of David Macaulay's Castle, my students designed their own fortresses. They tested the defensive walls by building catapults with popsicle sticks, rubber bands and spoons and firing mini marshmallows at their creations to see how many could land inside. Caerphilly Castle was built in the thirteenth century. It is the largest castle in Wales. To learn more about Caerphilly Castle, click here. More views of Caerphilly Castle David Macaulay re-creates the building of a medieval Castle in his book Castle. For more information about this very detailed and informative book, visit the author's website by clicking here. To watch a four part movie based on the book, click on the YouTube videos below. The castle in Macaulay's book is imaginary but it is based on several real Medieval castles. One of them is Caerphilly castle in Wales. Here is a floor plan of Caerphilly Castle: The film starts off with the author, David Macaulay, with his sketchbook, in Conway Castle in Wales. Here are some photographs of Conway Castle: Here is a floor plan of Conway Castle: Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Deal Castle, in Kent, England Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Windsor Castle in England WHY DO ALL THESE MEDIEVAL CASTLES LOOK SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER? HOW ARE THEY ALL ALIKE? Keep reading to find out. There was no standard shape and structure for a castle. The builders adapted their designs to suit the site, the budget and the military dangers of the day. THE ANATOMY OF A MEDIEVAL CASTLE Print out the picture above and look at all the basic parts that make up the anatomy of a Medieval castle. The castles all look very different from each other, yet they are all made up of the same basic components. See if you can identify the components all of these castles have in common. How would geographic location and the topography of the site influence a castle's design? Some cool Medieval castle activities: Click here to learn how to build your own paper and cardboard Medieval castle Click here to learn how to design a castle floor plan Click here for a step by step Power Point presentation by The Helpful Art Teacher on how to design and build your own paper castle. Printable Worksheets How to build a paper castle You will need heavy paper, like oak tag or card stock, white glue,masking tape,cardboard for the base scissors,markers, paint and whatever else you wish to use to decorate your creation. A small inexpensive low temperature hot glue gun is useful but not necessary. The starting point: A tower You will need to build at least four of these towers and connect them by walls just to start building your castle. These worksheets are just to get you started. Be inventive! Figure out how to include all the parts of the castle from the moat and draw bridge to the gate house and portcullis to the inner ward and keep. Work in progress: These 7th grade students are creating a curtain wall, the wall surrounding their castle complex. A soldier can walk along this wall and shoot arrows at his enemies from behind the embrasures. These students have created a portcullis and draw bridge using yarn, Popsicle sticks and a low temperature hot glue gun. Interior and exterior shots of one 7th grade student's work in progress. She used a sharp scissors to cut the points on the Popsicle sticks that form the portcullis. When each group was done constructing their castles I gave them 12 Popsicle sticks, a rubber band, a plastic spoon and permission to go over to the hot glue gun table. Their mission? To design a working catapult capable of lobbing mini marshmallows into another group's castle. Catapult designed by a 7th grade student Click here to learn how to build a miniature working catapult out of Popsicle sticks (so you can storm your paper castle). This website gives step by step directions but I prefer to have my students come up with their own designs. As you can see, from the video below, my 7th graders' original contraptions worked quite well. catapult design by a 7th grade student from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo. STEAM connection: How does building a catapult connect art to science, technology, engineering and math? When you create a catapult you are using a simple macine, the lever. If you pull the spoon back, the taut rubber band has potential energy. When you let go of the spoon the marshmallow is propelled by force and has kinetic energy. When you pull the rubber band back to a 45 degree angle, the marshmallow will travel the farthest distance. When you pull it back farther, the marshmallow will travel higher, but not go as far. We set up our catapults behind a taped barrier and asked the students to see how many mini marshmallows they could get into each castle. In order to make it over the wall, student found that they ideally needed to pull the spoon back farther than 45 degrees to attain more height and less distance. We discussed how the goal of the job affects the method used to launch the catapult; had the goal been to make the marshmallow go the farthest distance, then a 45 degree angle would have been preferable. STEAM Vocabulary/Definitions accuracy : The degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. For example, in the associated activity, accuracy is the ability to hit the target with the Ping-Pong ball. catapult: A toy/machine that launches a projectile. geometry: An area of mathematics that studies shape, size, position and properties of space. precision: The degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results. For example, in the associated activity, precision is the ability to hit the same location multiple times with the Ping-Pong ball. projectile: An object that is launched or thrown, usually in the air, by a force. Source:https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_catapult_lesson01 Other STEAM connections in this lesson: The portcullis and draw bridge on the castles above operate using a pulley, another simple machine. Show students simple machines and have them divide into small groups to brainstorm how they might incorporate simple machines into their castle designs. For instance, a pulley might be used to draw water from a well as well as to control the draw bridge and portcullis. What is a simple machine? A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. The six simple machines are: Lever Wheel and axle Pulley Inclined plane Wedge Screw This student took the assignment a step farther. After researching medieval weapons he decided to design a crossbow to defend his fortress and siege neighboring castles. He was, of course, very careful to aim his weapon at rival social studies projects and never at people. Learn all the parts of a real medieval castle and what they were used for before you begin. Look at several real castles and their floor plans before you create your own. Remember, fortresses were designed and built for defense so make sure your castle will protect the inhabitants within. The Parts of a Medieval Castle Vocabulary terms you will need to know: You will remember the vocabulary better if, after reading the definition, you click on the word. This will bring you to a picture that illustrates the word. If you are building a castle for a 7th grade social studies class your teacher will probably expect you to use these vocabulary words to label the parts of your castle. You will also be expected to demonstrate the ways in which your fortress uses these elements to protect it's inhabitants. Arrow Loops - These were slots in the walls and structures that were used to shoot arrows through. They came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Ashlar - Blocks of smooth square stone. They can be of any kind of stone. Bailey: This is a courtyard or open space surrounded by walls.The walls that make up the Bailey are also considered to be part of the Bailey. A castle could have several. Sometimes they were called the upper bailey and lower bailey or the west bailey and east bailey. Barbican: A stone structure that protected the gate of a castle. Think of it as a gatehouse. It usually had a small tower on each side of the gate where guards could stand watch. Barmkin: A yard surrounded by a defensive wall Bartizan: A small turret at the corner of a tower or wall. It is usually at the top but not always. Bastion: A tower or turret projecting from a wall or at the junction of two walls Battlements: These are the structures at the tops of the walls surrounding a castle. Picture what you have seen in the movies where archers are at the top of the wall and firing arrows between open slots down on the attackers. These shapes at the top (Where the archers position themselves for battle) are called battlements. They are also referred to as crenellations. Buttress: A masonry projection used as additional support for walls. Notre Dame Cathedral is a good examlple of the use of Buttresses. Corbel - A stone projection from a wall. It supports the weight of a battlement. Courtyard - The open area with the curtain walls of a castle. Curtain Wall - The stone walls around a castle. Drawbridge - This was a wooden bridge in front of the main gate of the castle. In the early centuries of castles it was moved horizontal to the ground and in the later centuries it was built so it could raise up in a hinged fashion. Dungeon - A deep dark cell typically underground and underneath a castle. This is a derivative of the word Dunjon. Donjon - this is an old word for a great tower or a keep. Embrasure - An opening in a parapet wall. GateHouse - A strongly built and fortified main entrance to a castle. It often has a guard house and or living quarters. Hall or GreatHall - This is the major building inside th walls of a castle. Hoarding: a covered wooden gallery above a tower the floor had slats or slots to allow defenders to drop object on besiegers. They could also drop liquids and projectiles. Keep - This definition changed slightly over the centuries of castle building. In the early years of stone castle building the Keep was a standalone structure that could be defended and often square in shape. Over the centuries these structures were improved upon and built around. Thus a castle was made that was a larger and more complex structure. The main tower that this was built around was still called the Keep and it was usually the tallest and strongest structure in the castle. It was also used as the last line of defense during siege or attack. Machicolations - The openings between the corbels of a parapet. They form areas that stick out along the top of the wall and defenders inside the castle can drop items like boiling water and rocks onto attackers. Merlons - The parts of parapet walls between embrasures Moat: A Body of water surrounding the outer wall of a castle. It was often around 5 to 15 feet deep and it was sometimes within the outer wall -between the outer wall and the inner wall. The primary purpose of the moat wasn't to stop attackers it was to stop tunnelers. Tunneling under a castle was an effective means of collapsing the walls or infiltrating it. A moat would cause any tunnel to collapse. Motte And Bailey: This isn't part of a castle it is the predecessor to the castle. A Motte and Bailey was an early form of castle where a large mound of dirt was built up then a wooden fortification was placed on top. This wooden fortification was in the shape of a timber fence that formed a circle like a crown at the top of the mound. The Mound is the motte, and the timber fence and the space it enclosed is the Bailey. Murder Hole: An opening in the roof of a gateway over an entrance. Used to drop projectiles or other things onto the besiegers. Oubliette: A deep pit reached by a trap door at the top. Prisoners were kept in it. Palisade: A defenisive fence Portcullis - This is a metal or wood grate that was dropped vertically just inside the main gate to the castle. Postern - A small gate at the back of a castle. Often considered to be a "Back Door". Rampart: Picture the battlements in the previous definition. The battlements are the top sections of the outer wall of the castle. Now to access these battlements the archers would stand on a walk way that was a wall in it's own right. This walkway is built right up against the outer wall and is called the Rampart. Ward - The area inside the walls of a castle. Often also called the Courtyard. Yett: Iron gates at the entrance of a castle To learn more about Medieval weapons, click here Click here to learn more about what life was life like in Medieval times If you were a peasant and wanted the protection a castle afforded, you had to pay your taxes If you were a monk you might work in a scriptorium painstakingly copying The Bible in Latin by hand and creating Illuminated manuscripts What is an illuminated manuscript? Before the invention of the printing press books had to be written by hand and very few people knew how to read.Click here to learn more about Medieval illuminated manuscripts If you were a knight, you would have to decorate your outfit with distinctive heraldry to avoid accidentally being killed by your own men Special thanks Richard Burzynski, Alexandre Lopez, Derrick C. Kyriacou and the Social Studies department at William C. McGinnis School. Please note: The pictures of actual medieval castles come from Wikimedia commons and are in the public domain. A few of the black and white images are handouts I have had for many years. If anyone knows who I should attribute them to, please email me. The pictures of step by step directions and photographs of student art work are my own. They may be downloaded and reproduced for educational purposes only (with appropriate credit given) in accordance with fair use law. Please do not republish them without contacting me for permission. Castles and creative writing: Middle school students love learning about castles. They figure heavily in many beloved children's stories, movies and video games. Why not use a castle construction project as a jumping off point for a unit on imaginative story telling? Castles are often a main feature in fantasy and mythological stories. Here is a fantasy art and storytelling assignment that I gave to my students during the 2016-2017 school year: Samuel E. Shull School, 2017 STUDENT ART GALLERY:
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It’s a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an […]
Build a craft stick chain reaction! Weave craft sticks together to make a chain that flies apart when you let go. Fun science!
Get fun, free printable worksheets and enjoy cool science activities to do at home
Learn how to build a popsicle stick catapult for STEM. Our popsicle stick catapult instructions and video are easy!
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It’s a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an […]
Of all the many marble runs we’ve built over the years, this is our new favorite! Simple materials and sturdy construction make it a WIN for a wide variety of ages. This would be great for a classroom STEM challenge. It all started the other day when we needed a break from homeschooling. It has […]
Our kids’ engineering challenge this month was to build a bridge that spanned one of the library’s delivery boxes and would support the weight of a bottle of paint. Before we started bu…
Learn how to build a popsicle stick catapult for STEM. Our popsicle stick catapult instructions and video are easy!
I have made this popsicle money box with all my students and all of them were so overjoyed when they had finished. It really is a lovely thing and to make one yourself is a great achievement. The o…
I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various …
Follow easy directions to build a popsicle stick or soda straw bridge and discover how much weight the bridge can bear before breaking.
Here’s a great summer project for kids – build a catapult out of pre-cut dowel rods and rubber bands! Over the years, we’ve done a lot of exploring with catapult making! We’ve built them out of Tinker Toys and tissue boxes, and even just used forks as catapults! Aidan and I have been on a […]
Popsicle/Craft Stick Chain Reactions – Herringbone and Clever Levers Of all the craft materials we have ever purchased, I have to say that we have gotten the most bang for our buck with a pack of 300 craft sticks that we bought a couple of years ago! Last year we posted about building an exploding […]
Learn how to build a popsicle stick catapult for STEM. Our popsicle stick catapult instructions and video are easy!
Mix play with STEM learning by building this easy to craft popsicle stick catapult! All you need are craft sticks, rubber bands and a spoon.
Popsicle/Craft Stick Chain Reactions – Herringbone and Clever Levers Of all the craft materials we have ever purchased, I have to say that we have gotten the most bang for our buck with a pack of 300 craft sticks that we bought a couple of years ago! Last year we posted about building an exploding […]
My husband is the art teacher and often has extra materials he can't use. (Many parents donate excess graph paper, card stock, and other supplies.) I spied several brightly colored tongue depressors in his room a few weeks ago. When I asked if he had plans for them, he said "no" and gladly handed them over. We've been preparing do and reviewing sol mi la songs in 2nd grade so I thought the sticks would provide a different way to practice constructing known songs. I used the following songs: Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle No Robbers Out Today Lucy Locket We Are Dancing in the Forest I have a SMART Board file with each song written out in stick notation (with the solfa written in underneath the rhythm.) After printing out copies of each song I cut them up in 4 beat phrases and glued each phrase on one side of the stick. On the other side is a small picture indicating what song the phrase is from. (You can see the little pictures near the song titles.) After reviewing the songs, we made a circle and students select one stick each. (One fun way to choose sticks is to play Apple Tree and have the eliminated student pick a stick until everyone has one.) Students identify their "teammates" by finding those who have the same color and picture on their song stick. Each team rebuilds their assigned song as a team and practices singing and body signing the song. Once a team is confident their song is built correctly, they request a song sheet from me and check to see if it matches. 2nd graders check their song Are all of my students able to put together a known sol mi la song from memory with the stick notation? No way. How can make this activity a successful learning experience for everyone? Well... Many students will benefit from being in a group where they can work together. Some students with stronger skills have the option of building their song with a partner, (there are always uneven groups so this is a great way divvy out the song sticks.) Some groups build their song with the song sheet in hand. Yes, they are essentially copying the song. This is still a reinforcement of the melody, rhythm and form of the song and those students can still be successful. I'm all about doing the same old thing in a slightly different way. (And I just love those colorful song sticks!)
“Building missions from sugar cubes or popsicle sticks does not help students understand the period and is offensive to many,” a new framework reads.
Bridges are amazing feats of engineering and a great logic challenge for your children designers. Here are some resources to help teach them more about bridges and how they work. Lesson Plans Bridge Lesson on Forces, Arch Bridges, & Truss Bridges – a detailed hands-on unit study designed for a homeschool co-op. Bridge Lesson on […]
